Every night we bless people with our son.
“God Bless….Mini#1, Mommy and Daddy, Mini#2 and Karma-Dog,
Mem/Pep, Lala, Phil and Ruby, GiGi/Grandpa, Uncle Dan in California, Auntie
Erin, Anna and Bubba. (I’ll leave it to
you to determine which of these subjects are canine and which are human). God Bless our teachers at our school and at
our church. Amen. Thank you God! Ohhhhh (high sqeaky voice) ! I forgot Steeeeeeve!!”
My husband looked at me puzzled…and mouthed Steve?
Earlier in the day
mini #1 and I were headed to Target to buy random-Target-stuff. In the town where we shop there are
frequently people standing in the median strip, panhandling. I saw a man standing on the median on the way
to Target. When I was there I bought a little extra food and put it
in a separate bag in my front seat in case he was still there when we left and were driving
home.
Mini #1 and I had
selected a bag of goldfish, bottled water and a couple bananas. I made a huge point of telling mini that if you have extra, you give it away and
that if the man was still there, these gold fish would then be his. He said he understood, but when goldfish are
involved things can get kinda feisty…..so I held my breath.
The man was still
standing there. He looked like
shit. I began to pray incessantly for
this man. He looked like shit and
honestly, he probably felt like shit. It was hot out. I was paralyzed by the very real truth that
people like me are one or two decisions
away from people in their situation.
At this point tears were streaming down my face and I was preaching to
mini from the front seat that we are no
different than this man and we should love him. Mini was looking scared at this point….
We pulled up closer
and I held out the bag for him, he exclaimed, “Food!” and quickly twisted the
cap off of the water bottle. When I
asked him his name, he said it was Steve.
I could see rosary beads tucked into his shirt. I told him we would pray for him. On the rest of the drive home I prayed for his
protection, for him to make informed decisions and for
him to be safe.
Hours later, Mini #1 had prayed for Steve! Now we all know that positive feedback in
teaching and parenting is few and far between THIS WAS A MAJOR FAMILY WIN. WIN
WIN WIN!
“Dada, God Bless Steeeeeve! Oh! And I forgot, God Bless
penguins!”
…Annnd we’re back.
HI! I love that you were the post before me on the HonestMom link-up! We try to pray with our kids nightly as well. When they were little we did it reliously (pun intended) but as they got older and we allowed our oldest to stay up later to read while his younger brother went to bed, or sports or Homegroup pushed bedtime later and later, it easily fell between the cracks. We have made a concerted effort to start again this summer and I am so happy we did. I love to hear what's on thier mind and I am constantly floored by the people I forget but they remember!! Your story about Steve is a beautiful representation of being God's hands and feet! Sharing with someone, feeling their pain and praying for their safety. It's a great reminder for me to odo things like that more regularly and that prayer isn't only for bedtime;) So happy to have found you~
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Oh Vicky thank you so much for your kind words and feedback! As a child I used to think praying was this very formal time spent kneeling and feeling somber. When I truly accepted God into my life in my mid 20s, I realized that you can pray all day, or at a red light or at the grocery store and it can be for simple things stuff like the weather or the heavy stuff, like Steve. I am in awe of parents who can maintain a faithful household because it is tough with all the other competing aspects of our society inundating our kids. Goodluck and keep me posted how it goes or any tricks that work!
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